?!*

2009-03-25T05:45:00.003-04:00

Ok, so this is REALLY lame. But it would have been much worse had I stuck to song titles (as original tag asks you to) rather than book titles. Picked Le Carre because it means minimal research, having read nine out of his twenty-one novels (I also own about five more that I haven't read).

Using only book titles from ONE WRITER, cleverly answer these questions.

Pick Your writer:
John Le Carre

Are you male or female?
A Perfect Spy

Describe yourself:
Absolute Friends

How do you feel about yourself?
The Naïve and Sentimental Lover

Describe where you currently live:
The Russia House

If you could go anywhere, where would you go?
A Small Town in Germany

Your best friend is:
The Honourable Schoolboy

Your favourite colour is:
The Unbearable Peace

You know that:
Smiley's People

What's the weather like:
A Murder of Quality

If your life was a TV show, what would it be called?
What Ritual is Being Observed Tonight?

What is life to you?
The Looking-Glass War

What is the best advice you have to give?
Call for the Dead

If you could change your name, what would it be?
The Little Drummer Girl

Your favourite food is:
The Mission Song

p.s. If you haven't read Le Carre, go pick up The Spy Who Came in From the Cold. And then the Smiley books. And BBC's TV version of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (which is so engaging that I watched all six hours of it in one sitting, even though I'd already read the book). I'll shut up now.

p.p.s. Feel free to take this up, anyone. Or do the original one. Or not.

2009-02-09T02:44:00.002-05:00

Tagged. This gives me something to blog about, so I won't complain too much.

Twenty-one random things about myself-

1. As a child, I couldn't pronounce my other, longer name- and so I spliced together the first and last syllables and called myself 'Nina', which stuck.

2. People often think I'm naive and innocent. This usually works to my advantage.

3. I completely fail to see the point of spending vast sums of money on jewellery. No, the "Oh, it's an investment" argument doesn't quite cut it.

4. The other day, some nutjob sent me via fax to my uncle's office, a marriage proposal written in chaste Malayalam.

5. I've wanted to visit Mt.St.Helens ever since I saw a picture of it in The Living Planet, at age five or six. Finally did, last summer. I was thrilled to bits.

6. My family has more than its fair share of loonies, drunks and runaways and mediums who operate the ouija board. Much entertainment, therefore.

7. I love gossip. Always have. Ever since I can remember.

8. I hate, hate, HATE shopping for clothes. I'd much rather differentiate under the integral sign.

9. But I really like shopping for shoes.

10. I prefer buying second-hand books to new. Hard bound.

11. I'm completely fascinated by cyclones.

12. I have a huge crush on Hugh Laurie. Well, House MD, actually.

13. This is as hard as it looks.

14. I still know an embarrassing amount about Hindi cinema- especially the love lives of stars and starlets from the mid-nineties, because my loo reading during this period was Stardust.

15. I find it very difficult to tell people off. When I do manage to, I feel quite pleased with myself.

16. I went and watched midnight screening of Rocky Horror Picture Show on Halloween a couple of years ago. My friend and I were the only ones who were sober and not in fancy dress.

17. I think you stop making good friends once you leave college.

18. My great-grandfather ran away from home because of his step-mother's cruelty. He somehow ended up in Colombo where he made his fortune. Sounds like a cliche, but true story.

19. I wish I'd cut more classes in college.

20. I derive great pleasure from electrocuting mosquitoes. GREAT. Is that bloodlust?

21. I've been told that swearing doesn't suit me. That doesn't really stop me, though.

Anyone out there foolhardy enough to take this up, feel free.

2008-12-23T06:20:00.003-05:00

(Because I have nothing else to write about)

Part of gtalk conversation I had yesterday with my friend Tista:

me: anyway, koschen
tista: yes..
me: is it just me or do you also like it when men carry pens in their shirt/kurta pockets?
tista: i like men carrying pens in kurta pockets.
me: kurta pockets better definitely
tista: yep
:)

Now you know.

2008-12-17T04:28:00.012-05:00

Found this bit of silly writing among some old letters and photographs- written (I think) by my father and his friend, S. Obviously they found the idea of the marriage of their mutual friend G (aka Bunty) to a Bangladeshi girl hilarious.

COMING! COMING!! COMING!!!

IT TOOK BOSTON BY STORM! REGALED AUDIENCES AT NY, LA, TORONTO!!!

NOW- READY TO CONQUER INDIA!

AT RAAGAL-BOMBAY LAL QILA JABALPORE FORTUNE TLY

AND TO BREAK ALL RECORDS IN BANGLADESH!

AT TAKA-DHAKA ISLAMIA-JESSORE SULTAN-CHITTAGONG

ANAMIKA PRESENTS

INDO-BANGLA COMBINES'

BUNTY- a teenage Love Story

Sizzling romantic saga! Love Epic! Bolder than him! More brazen than her!! Lustier than ISI! Strictly for Adults! Triple-X Rated!

Breaking religious and national barriers! Sex in a secular vein! Socks you between the legs! Makes you blush like a beetroot!

Introducing Bunty as Bunty; Laila as Runa

Starring Brighlal as Daddyji; Scarlet Dhara as Mummyji;
Bjorn Andersen as ABBA; Emmanuelle as AMMA

With Meera Sen as Baby Laila

DIRECTED BY Steve Victor SCREENPLAY Charles Deveraux
AUDIO Nimish Mehta VIDEO Groovy

TICKETS AVAILABLE AT ALL BRANCHES OF BAWA MORNING STORES

--------- A rajpillai international release ---------

" The story of Laila and Bunty... in the voluptuous and earthy language of LOVE"- PULSE

" ... Gripping..." - Pratibimb

" If this film had been made before partition, it would have changed the... course of history. " -SIR RICHARD ATTENBOROUGH

" It is clever- but is it art?" - HARVARD JOURNAL OF ANTHROPOLOGY AND NATURAL HISTORY

" This film truly depicts the unculturisation, the acculturisation and the agriculturisation of the Asian Society in the American Social Frame" - A C Sinha IN THE MAURITANIA TIMES

" ... doing ... the usual ... " - E. B. MAX

BHARAT-BANGLA
BHAI-BAHAN!

2008-11-05T00:48:00.001-05:00

Woohoo!

Upon Driving on Chennai Roads: Anecdotes, Questions and Observations

2008-10-03T14:21:00.003-04:00

Anecdote

Friday last, 9.45 am, Chamiers Rd/Cenotaph Rd Intersection.

I've just been pulled over by traffic cop for jumping a red light (the damn thing had turned red before I could drive off. Don't ask). We get out of the car, and follow the guy. He's clearly a rookie.

"LLR-a? You're not allowed to drive in traffic."
"Oh yes I am!"
" Read your LLR properly- it says in there that you can't."

I fish out my LLR and (triumphantly) read out loud, "The attention of the holder of this license is drawn to rule-3 of Central Motor Vehicle Rules 1989. Which prohibits him from driving any motor vehicle unless he has besides him a person duly licensed to drive the vehicles and in every case, the vehicle carries "L" plate both in the front and in the rear of the vehicle."

I sound quite indignant, and Rookie senses that I'm about to pick up a fight. And so we are taken to meet the boss. The Boss regards me balefully and parrots out, "LLR-a? You're not allowed to drive in traffic. Read your LLR properly- it says in there that you can't." Before I reply, Rookie, tells his boss with a smirk, "She's claiming that there's no such rule." I feel belligerent, and dearly want to break his nose. The Boss continues his interrogation,
"What are you doing driving in traffic?"
"Learning to drive in traffic..."
"You're not allowed to do that! You're supposed to practice on empty roads."
"But I've already done that! And anyway, there's no rule that stops me from driving in traffic."
"No, you can only drive in traffic when you have your license! What if you cause an accident?" I want to say to him, you moron, a driver's license does not automatically endow anyone with perfect driving skills.
"How do you propose I learn to drive in traffic, then?"
"YOU CAN DRIVE IN TRAFFIC ONLY AFTER YOU"VE GOT YOUR LICENSE"
"But there is no such rule!"
"When I tell you something, you must listen. Instead you go on insisting that the rabbit has three legs..."
"BUT THERE IS NO SUCH RULE!"
"You're a girl, so I can't say anything to you. You'll claim that I harassed you."
"Err, if you say so."
"Now get lost."
"Ok"

See how the cops made no mention about my actual offense? It's symptomatic of a special kind of idiocy that's endemic to the authorities.

And that, folks was my tryst with the law.

Questions and Observations

-Why is switching on the indicator while changing lanes not standard practice in India? It makes me very nervous not doing this. In Kerala, putting on your right indicator while driving on a straight road apparently means that you're allowing the person behind to overtake you. Scary.

-Bike drivers are a nuisance to civilised society. Also, auto drivers. Ok, some car drivers too.

-Oh god, how I love power steering!

2008-09-09T09:09:00.003-04:00

Please to get your hands on J.P.Donleavy's The Unexpurgated Code. At once, if you know what's good for you.

Choice Excerpts-

Knowing When You Have Reached the Top

Upon a chosen clement day, exercise a sartorial master stroke of impeccable taste. Don a neatly laundered and sharply pressed pair of flannel cricket trousers, white buckskin shoes, white moleskin hacking jacket with a red carnation in the lapel, silk shirt and purple tweed tie. In your summery stylish regalia, and really looking nice, poise on the sixth floor room balcony of a goodish old fashioned downtown hotel. When everyone is suitably assembled to watch you jump off to break your head, commence peeing. If no one tries to rush the hell out of your pissing all over them, you have reached the top.

Shaving

This daily repeated ritual of symbolic castration does help to keep chaps in their place who might otherwise become roaring out of control gorillas. Those who have the audacious vanity to let sprout sideburns, moustaches and the like only call attention to their self advertised symptom of testicular curtailment...

...Being yourself a hairy ape accosted by some clean shaven rube who comes bleating at you with his bare face hanging out with the question.

'Hey why are you growing that beard.'

Always reply in pukka.

'I say, you unpleasantly unfortunate radoteur, I'm not doing a thing. You're shaving every day.'

Upon Travelling in Space

When your fellow passenger's dinner floats away from his mouth with weightlessness, gently push it back in his direction. Be doubly careful at your toiletries and remember, breaking wind in these rarefied atmospheres can be positively dangerous.
Arriving on the foreign planet, do not display your clod hopping primitive ways but attempt to imitate their modern ones. And don't above all try to get funny by telling a long string of earthy jokes to the first foreigner you see. Nor attempt any carnal linkage or saucy dovetailing until you know for sure where to put your what for into their this is it. Also you better hope to god you can get it out again. As you wouldn't know what the hell kind of magnetics they've got out there in some of them galaxies.

2008-08-24T15:50:00.007-04:00

A food-obsessed post. Don't say I didn't warn you!

Walked into the Spencer's daily close to home today, and made a discovery that made my day. They stock-
(i) Dorset Cereals- yes that one owned by Prince Charles- which, even in Boston was only available in the higher-end grocery stores such as Whole Foods. Expensive even by American standards, each packet sells for Rs.450 here. Ah, Whole Foods...
(ii) Kikkoman soy sauce. Real, brewed soy sauce. The brand my Taiwanese roommates (and I) used to favour.
(iii) Pad Thai sauce, Oyster sauce, Thai green curry paste. Chinese-style candied ginger and black bean paste (which is quite wonderful, btw). All this talk of Chinese food makes me crave for Gourmet Dumpling's scallion pancakes with that divine dipping sauce, and ma po tofu. Ah, Chinatown...
Who are these denizens of T.Nagar who cook Thai & Chinese food? I'd really like to get to know them!
(iv)Prego pasta sauce. We preferred Newman's Own, however. Least tasteless of the lot.Capers! Sun-dried tomato pesto! Canned chickpeas! Apple cider vinegar! Dried cranberries and dried pineapple! Almost like being in America again.

I've missed a few things, I'm sure.

I'm sure some of these things have been available in Madras for some time now, but only in places like Amma Nana, or Nuts and Spices. To find these things in a neighbourhood grocery store with nary an expat in sight was well, a bolt out of the blue. I can't get over this!

Must now scope out the shops that expats frequent to see what bounty they might yield... Btw, does anyone know where one can get good, fresh tofu in Madras?

Oh, and look what's become cool in America! Now what, plastic baskets are going to be all the rage next?

Limericks!

2008-08-17T00:05:00.005-04:00

Decipher these-

There was a young lady from Del.
Who was most undoubtedly wel.
That to dress for a masque
Wasn't much of a tasque,
But she cried, "What on earth will my fel.?"

A handsome young gent down in Fla.
Collapsed in a hospital ca.
A young nurse from Me.
Sought to banish his pe.
And shot him! Now what could be ha.?

More here. Via.

Cool, what?

Two Questions

2008-08-03T11:23:00.003-04:00

Isn't it illegal to hang pictures of Hindu gods in government offices? And have priests come in and conduct prayers on (what appeared to be) a daily basis?

Why do actors in Hinglish movies sound like they've stepped out of a high school play? (Context? I watched Dance Like a Man a few days ago)

2008-07-16T12:05:00.005-04:00

So, spent the weekend in the boonies. Getting off at Tuticorin airport, one is immediately greeted by the smell of neem, and the dry, intense heat, so different from the humid Madras kind. Good to be home.

Much has changed-

Apartment complexes are mushrooming everywhere, especially in the suburbs. This is awful. Kalimark, which used to sell the best buns and cupcakes is gone. Also gone are Supreme, Queen's and every other small shop selling baked goods. Only the bigger businesses- with their neon signs and air-conditioned stores- remain. The town area still looks much the same, thankfully. Iruttu Kadai Alva- so called because the only source of illumination for the tiny shop is a zero watt bulb- is still doing roaring business- demand far outstrips supply, and each customer may not buy more than a kilo of alva. Sort of like the iphone, in the early days. And Bovonto still survives, ha ha!

We've got this old driver, who's been with us since my uncles were boys, and a favourite with us due to his many eccentricities. Chief among these was his habit of fondly referring to our Maruti Omni as Kannukutti, and to the Ambassador as erumai mAdu. Anyway, when I saw him on Friday last, my jaw nearly dropped- the man who was always dressed in a folded-up veshti was wearing... trousers! I've seen it all now. I think.

Ate, no gorged on my grandmother's cooking. Kozhukattais and karuppu thosai, especially.

The printer at the ticketing office at the airport never works. As a result, and to our great amusement our ticket was a tiny piece of paper with our names, PNR number and date written on it. Stamped and signed, of course.

At security check, the woman wielding the metal detector looks me up and down, and I flash her (what I suppose to be) a winning smile. She asks me, "Enga, madrasukkA poreenga?" Where else, I want to say. There's only one flight from that airport, and that flight goes to Madras. Instead I simply nod. "Oho, enna vishayamA poreenga?" I say, "Illai, angerundhu dhAn vandhEn." And she replies, "Oh ungaLa munnAdi pArthade illai, adhAn kEttEn. There, the morbid Tirunelveli curiosity. A few years ago, this question would have annoyed me no end. Now I find the whole exchange hilarious.

Quote of the Day

2008-07-06T13:58:00.002-04:00

Or, why men's magazines are much more entertaining than women's-

"Essentially, french cuffs without cuff links are like Playboy without the centrefold."

(From Man's Mission magazine)

2008-05-14T23:54:00.004-04:00

From T.P. Meenakshisundaran's A History of Tamil Language, from a chapter that talks about loan words from Portuguese-

"...tocai is from doce which was the name of a sweet dish; by the process of semantic extension, this has come to mean any rice cake."

Who'd have thunk it?

So what was the dosai (or tocai, which is how I pronounce is anyway) called before the Portuguese arrived in Tamil land? Surely, dosais predate Portuguese colonisation? According to this article, dosais have a two thousand year history in TN.[1]

Why then, has the dosa/dose usage been adopted in the other southern states? Unless dosai-making spread out of TN only in the last three-four hundred years or so. Does anyone even know that dosais were invented in TN? I remember reading somewhere that they are an Udupi creation. Hmm...

Meenakshisundaran also insists that the Tamil vattu comes from the Portuguese word for duck (which quick googling reveals to be pato). Come to think of it, I can't seem to recall a single reference to ducks from what little classical/Bhakti era Tamil poetry I know. By way of aquatic birds, swans and cranes, yes. But ducks, no. Interesting, but why/how? Anyone know the Malayalam/Telugu/Kannada word for duck?

[1]But said article claims that fermentation techniques were brought to South India from Indonesia sometime during the years, 800-1200 AD. Hello? No fermentaion, no dosai.

2008-05-07T23:17:00.005-04:00

Woodlands Drive-In has shut down, it seems. Could anything be more tragic, you ask?

Actually, yes.

Karpagambal Mess has downed its shutters too. Taken over by Vasanta Bhavan, I'm told.
Where will I go for my pongal-vadai-filter coffee-badam halwa fix now?

I was misinformed. Thank god!

2008-05-04T18:22:00.007-04:00

Bobo's tag:

Last movie seen in a theatre:

Encounters at the End of the World, at the Boston Independent Film Festival. Good in bits, but worth a watch overall.

What book are you reading?

My Name is Red. Yes, still.

Favourite board game:
Pictionary. Can't draw too well, but very good at guessing.

Favourite magazine:
The New Yorker.

Favourite smells:

The smell of old books, and of wet earth (cliched, I admit). Also, citrus, curry leaves, coffee, freshly baking bread, caramelising sugar, ghee...

Favourite sound:

Never thought about it. Flowing water, I suppose. And the sound of spices spluttering in hot oil.

Worst feeling in the world:

Grief.

What is the first thing you think of when you wake up?

Fuck, what time is it?

Favourite fast food place:

American fast food is gross. In Madras, Gangotree. Also Anna Univ canteen for the badam milk, pav bhaji and chole bhature.

Future child’s name:

Who thinks that far ahead?!

Finish this statement, “If I had a lot of money I’d…”

Travel, eat fancy things like truffles. Buy expensive books.

Do you drive fast?

Don't drive.

Do you sleep with a stuffed animal?

No.

Storms - Cool or Scary?

Cool. Cyclones infinitely cooler than New England snowstorms.

Do you eat the stems on broccoli?

Hate broccoli. Ugh.

If you could dye your hair any colour, what would be your choice?

Wouldn't dye it.

Name all the different cities/towns you have lived in:

Tirunelveli (17 years); Madras (5 years); Waltham, MA (1 year); Cambridge, MA (9 months and counting)

Favourite sports to watch:

Cricket.

One nice thing about the person who sent this to you:

Nice boy. And sharp, too.

What’s under your bed?

Under my bed are drawers containing bedsheets and pillowcases.

Would you like to be born as yourself again?

Yes, but an improved version- with a talent for physics and maths. Everything else, I don't really mind/can deal with. And better eyesight, while we are at it.

Morning person or night owl?

Night Owl

Over easy or sunny side up?

Neither. Hard hoiled/scrambled/omelettes.

Favourite place to relax:

My room.

Favourite pie:

Pecan.

Favourite ice cream flavour:

Blood orange sorbet. And ooh, watermelon.

You pass this tag to –

Abhilash.

Of all the people you tagged this to, who’s most likely to respond first?

Have only tagged one person.

A Perfect Saturday

2008-04-26T23:36:00.005-04:00

Beautiful warm spring weather; flowers in full bloom.

Ice-cream for breakfast. A morning at Gore place, spent sitting on the grass, basking in the sun. Watching Alpacas and goats; sheep being sheared.

Followed by fresh fava beans, green almonds, Muhammara and Baklava at Arax in Watertown.

An evening spent in pleasant company. Walking around the lovely, lovely Mt.Auburn cemetery where lie buried, among others, H.W.Longfellow and Oliver Wendell Holmes. And demitasse shot of luscious hot chocolate at L.A.Burdick.

And to end, a wonderful, unexpected recital of Brahms and Mendelssohn by the Cambridge Chamber Players at the Dunster House Library.

And to think, as of 10 a.m. this morning, I had no plans for the day.

Apathy

2008-04-24T03:36:00.002-04:00

When was the last time you felt strongly about something? Took a stand, even?

2008-04-19T02:54:00.002-04:00

Baby penguins are ridiculously cute.

Sigh.

2008-04-07T00:55:00.003-04:00

On a trip to my friend M's place in Cochin back when we were in college, I became mildly obsessed with learning how to read Malayalam (don't ask), and with some help from M and her cousins, I somehow managed to learn the script. The obsession lasted for several more months. In order to practice my reading, every time M went back home, I'd ask her to bring me a copy of the Malayala Manorama, something she'd invariably forget to do.

Until one monday morning, having just returned from Kerala, M said to me, "I haven't forgotten this time. In fact, I brought you two!" Excited, I opened the cover only to be confronted by a very fat, topless Mallu woman. Poor M, thoroughly embarrassed said "Well, at least now I know why the other passengers were giving me strange looks!" She had quite innocently bought me a couple of Mallu porn magazines. Heh. These I certainly did not want to read. M & I tore 'em up into little pieces and chucked them in the dustbin (but not before the boys in class had had a dekko).

Oh, college was so much fun. Been trying to learn Nastaliq/Urdu these days (incredibly difficult, but I persevere), which is what triggered above recollection.

Mad Dogs and Engishmen

2008-04-03T00:22:00.000-04:00

2008-03-30T01:32:00.003-04:00

How do you convince an overanxious mother that-

a) you are not ready to get married now, nor will you be in a couple years' (or more) time.
b) that you do not want her to find you a husband.
c) in the very event that you do not find anyone you want to marry (and even more impossibly, wants to marry you), she should be able to deal with it.

Is it just me, or does the idea of spending your entire life with one person give you the heebie-jeebies?

2008-03-15T23:09:00.003-04:00

Go watch Persepolis NOW.

Can't believe Ratatouille beat it at the Oscars. Where's the comparison, even?

2008-03-05T22:59:00.003-05:00

Such drama, over the past two days.

First, My roommate P socks my other roomate D on the face (and breaking her nose in the process) over something really minor. argument. Then (after some deliberation) D & I call the cops. They come within minutes, question us about what happened, read P her rights, arrest her on charges of battery and assault (and I kid you not)handcuff her and take her away.

This morning, D & I go first to the police station, pick up our copy of the complaint. We then proceed to court, meet with the lawyer D has been assigned, since this is now a criminal case. We appear before the judge and request a restraining order against P, which we are granted. It's all so easy and smooth.

There will be a hearing 10 days hence to determine whether the restraining order will be extended to a year. Sometime in April, the case will come up for hearing. I'm to be present at both hearings since I'm the witness.

If you think calling 911 was excessive, it wasn't. We really were left with no choice. We had to take a stand somewhere, having this past month or two tolerated P's bad behaviour; ignored the childishness and the pettiness(she diluted our soap!). Anyone who knows me (I think) will agree that I'm at best reasonable, and at least try very hard to be. The same goes for D. In fact, sometimes she's nice to the point of being a pushover.

When we called the cops, we didn't know that she'd get arrested. Which I think is a good thing, because had we known then, we might never have made the call. As days progressed, it was becoming increasingly more difficult to live with P, and hopefully all problems will be sorted out one way or the other.

But I still can't believe the turn events have taken.

2008-02-28T00:13:00.002-05:00

Writer Sujatha is dead.

I'm not a particularly big fan of his work. Nor am I well-acquainted with it. I watched his futuristic En Iniya Iyandhira which used to air on DD-5 in the pre-cable part of the '90s and thought it the epitome of cool. People in it slept on water beds! And Gino, the robot dog (which every child that watched the show dreamed of owning)!

Have only read one of his books- Pesum Bommaigal, a sci-fi novel that features the lawyer/detectives, Ganesh and Vasant, thus marrying the two genres he specialised in writing. Reasonably entertaining, but derivative. And of course, there were the Ganesh/Vasant adaptations on Sun TV(monday nights at 9, was it?) and the dialogue he wrote for such movies as Mudhalvan and Boys.

He was a friend of my father's, so I knew him a little, you see. I remember visiting him and his wife in their flat. Also in Kutralam where he'd come to write undisturbed, and where we took him to the excellent, but now sadly defunct Shankar's mess (Shankar served, while his mother cooked over a wood fire, as a result of which the tiny place was suffused with smoke). He went into ecstasies over his adai, and wrote about it in Kumudham/Ananda Vikatan, even.

I feel a little sad to see him go.

2008-02-26T11:52:00.001-05:00

:D

[via ships, shoes, sealing wax]